bigruss

QUOTE (Joxer_Daly @ Oct 29, 2012 -> 02:52 PM) I'd say you do!! I think I'm operating on a slightly different plateau to him at the moment. :lol: Haha well he has been doing it for about 5 years now, and a lot of his downtime is doing some form of brewing (beer, mead, dabbled in other things like sake, fruit liquers). In his garage he has a pretty sweet refurbished fridge acting as his kegerator. He has 3 spigots I believe, and he painted the outside of the fridge with a chalkboard paint so he could draw/write a bunch of beer jokes/quotes.

When I went to a rugby game in Munster, Ireland my friend and I got standing room tickets. I figured since they were the cheapest that we would have some s***ty view, instead the standing room was right next to the field in the corners. Yea, when the action was on the other side it was kinda sucky but the section got really into the game and was pretty fantastic. I'd love to get a section close to the field with the intention of being super into the game (like a student section but for just hardcore fans). They could be cheaper tickets, maybe in the bleachers, and for every game you miss you would have to pay a fee or something (like most student fan bases). This group could inspire the rest of the stadium to get into the action more.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Oct 29, 2012 -> 01:14 PM) Ah, beer. I think fall and winter make up the best time of the year for beer. I try to sample as many Oktoberfests and Pumpkin beers I can find. One of the best was Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale, but I haven't been able to find it this year. Otherwise, Sam Adams' Octoberfest and Harvest Pumpkin are very good. Some winter beers are showing up now. Again, Sam Adams makes a good Winter Lager. Their 12-pack sampler always pleases with the Old Fezziwig, Holiday Porter, and the devilishly good Chocolate Bock. One of my best nights ever was at a semi-formal in college where the bar had $1 draft specials but I noticed that they had a special on Pumking Ale 24oz bottles for only $2.50. That's an 8.6% beer, so I went and got one, slugged it down and all my friends were asking what I was drinking. Soon enough about 10 of my buddies had bought it, but hated the taste (it's pretty intense, and college kids just want light beers), so I ended up buying most of them from them (some drank like half the bottle). I think when it was all said and done I had close to 6 full bottles, for about $15. It was a fantastic, drunk night for me.

QUOTE (Joxer_Daly @ Oct 29, 2012 -> 01:29 PM) Any Soxtalk homebrewers out there? I've got the stuff together to do my first ever batch of homebrew. Just need to make the time to get it done. My brother does, he goes to a bunch of homebrewing conferences and passed his test to be able to be a judge at events. I know he's won some awards at local competitions. I do love when he visits

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 29, 2012 -> 01:55 PM) Eh, I hear this crap every year. As Klee used to say, everything is perfect in the pre-season. Let's see how they talk/play in Jan-Feb. I expect them to be competitive with the attainable goal of reaching the tournament. They have enough talent. The question is whether they can buy into the system and get contributions from the young bigs. My main point of emphasis? Improvement from November 1st to the end of the year. Every one of Weber's teams the last 4-5 seasons seemed to get worse as the year went on while everyone else in the conference got better. That needs to change under Groce if they're going to get back to the top of the league. Well look at Groce's history, it's the complete opposite where his teams get stronger and by tourney time they play their best basketball.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Oct 29, 2012 -> 01:44 PM) I know there's only so much the Sox can do about that, but it's absolutely a reason attendance is down, or nowhere near comparable to the North side. Average Joe "Cubs" fan gets the buddies together. Hey, let's meet up at (fill in one of hundreds of places here) beforehand, then after the game, we can head to (fill in one of hundreds of places here). It's an event, it's an all day thing. And it's all walking distance once you're in the area. At the cell, it's either put together an effort to tailgate, or you can meet for a beer at Bacardi. You're going to the game just to go to the game. That works for me, but for a lot of people it just doesn't cut it. I've organized group outings there the past few years, but to make it an event that non-baseball fans (or those who are more casual about it) want to attend I always have to convince them with the Patio Party bundle. It's fun times, and the group loves it, but we've had issues with travel every time (people showing up late cuz theyre dumbasses and drive there) and it's always a hassle to get back to the city to continue the drinking (red line is just flat out packed). I'd much rather be able to meet at a bar before and right after the game right outside the stadium and wait for the trains to get back to normal.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Oct 29, 2012 -> 12:43 PM) Yup, can't wait to watch some games. I know we won't be great - but we do have some talent, so we shouldn't be terrible. Combine that with good coaching this year (even if he can't play his true style), and I think this team will be fun to watch. Should have a good compete level. Win or lose, that's a easier to take. I'm looking for the "we look competent, win or lose" team that we aren't getting out of football. It's possible we could make the tournament, but it's not exactly a great year to be in the BT. Going to be tough to pull some upsets. Maybe BP and DJ decide they want to make the tournament, and come up with some big games to sneak in. One way or another we're probably on the bubble in March. Groce has me excited. It's going to take time for him to hopefully turn it all around, but I'm looking forward to it. Everything I've heard from players and coaches is that this team is hungry, from seniors down. I love hearing from Groce that he has never had as much fun at practices than with this team because of how hungry they are, how much they want to learn and get better. It's just so different from the attitude we've seen in different years, we're our "leaders" felt like we were entitled to wins. This team is going to earn them (just look at Egwu taking shots before they even turn the lights on at the gym).

Joxer, no doubt about it it's still on the fans to show up. The Sox recognized they were to expensive and made the necessary cuts, and the transportation can be a hassle but it can definitely be a hassle to get to Wrigley as well. To me, besides the problem of not winning enough in recent years, it's the area around the Cell. The area is just not a point of interest unless the Sox are playing there, there isn't a lively, young crowd living there, etc. I don't know if that will ever change, but if you can get that area to become more of a destination than just to see Sox games then I think you'll see a boost in attendance.

So with the Illinois football team being abysmal, and the way Groce has impressed everyone in recruiting and with interviews thus far, I simply am pumped for this season. I know we'll struggle at times as we need a true PG for Groce's system, but I think this team is going to grow throughout the year and hopefully make the tourney.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Oct 28, 2012 -> 09:17 PM) Twins might make a trade for Mark Buehrle which makes sense because he is pretty much the epitome of a 'Twins pitcher' (junkballer, quick worker, doesnt walk anyone, gritty player) Please no, I want them to trade MB but not to the Twins, hopefully he stays in the NL.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Oct 26, 2012 -> 12:38 PM) The biggest issue during the news confernce was whether Hahn, who served under Williams for 12 seasons, would have final say on all baseball matters, including trades. "It's Rick's decision until it's not," Williams said. "When it's not, we'll have to hammer it out." Not a big fan of this quote basically says KW will have MAJOR say on every move. Just like every other team, EVERY GM reports to a President/Owner when it comes to moves. KW will have input, but it's more going to be looking out for the future of the team (financials, etc).

Please keep them coming, can't listen at work.

QUOTE (Joxer_Daly @ Oct 26, 2012 -> 10:24 AM) As I recall, Prague Airport is a bit out from the city centre too - maybe about €25/€30 in a taxi. The train could be a good shout - only a couple of hours time difference plus the benefit of seeing the countryside, being able to walk around, bring on some booze for the journey, etc... Definitely, a lot less stress (the booze helps, definitely suggest hitting up a local liquor/grocery store for some drinks and snacks/meal before you board), and typically bigger seats. Bring a deck of cards, a book, and/or a tablet and jsut enjoy the ride/views.

Congrats Rick, keep making scouting successes such as De Aza and you'll be great (from what I have read/heard, he was De Aza's biggest fan). I'm excited to see what he can do this offseason, it'll speak a lot to his personality as a GM as he's coming into a tough position with a lot of decisions to be made that may not be popular with fans. He's going to show if he's going to be more conservative or aggressive fairly quickly imo.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 25, 2012 -> 06:01 PM) Prague to Vienna....should I take the train (6.5 hr's) or fly? Depends on where youre going in relation to the train station and airport. Sometimes between baggage checking, delays, and travel to/from airports it actually will be about the same amount of time as a train ride (minus the bonus views, and extra comfort). I remember Vienna's airport being fairly far away, about a 30 minute train ride (which by the way, you better have a ticket for, we were told by our hostel we bought the right ticket but turned out that was wrong and we each got charged about $100). So depending on Prague's airport access, I would suggest taking the train as it may be just a bit more time, but you'll end in a more central location.

QUOTE (flippedoutpunk @ Oct 25, 2012 -> 04:27 PM) This is what I always imagine. If Ozzie was on his lap in front of him then it'd be perfect.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Oct 25, 2012 -> 04:15 PM) IT is such a wide field though. I can code in 4 or 5 different programming languages and I'm at least familiar with half a dozen more but I could go on a job search site and still find 1,000s of jobs that I'm not qualified for simply because there are still plenty of programming languages I don't know anything about. True, you still have to stay versatile in IT, as there is a ton of movement in demand within IT.

QUOTE (flippedoutpunk @ Oct 25, 2012 -> 03:47 PM) Time to switch the ol' Major i see 140,000 open IT jobs, only 40,000 graduating engineers.

Also, from a town hall meeting for my IT organization: IT unemployment is down to 1.9%

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 25, 2012 -> 03:06 PM) Here's a question: We all have our soxtalk personalities. I know many of you hate my position on Ozzie Guillen and some former Sox players and my style of posting. My question is: If you were a business owner and I applied for a job at your company, would you reject me because of things I post on soxtalk. Just curious to see if this fantasy world message board relates to real life as well. Would Greg be eliminated as a job candidate because of a message board?? Thank u for responding. Yes and no, you'd have to be pretty extreme in what you say for me to automatically dismiss you (such as racist remarks, etc). If a I saw a great resume come by for an open position, I try to not let factors such as Facebook and forums interfere because I think that your life is your life, and as long as you have proven to be professional in your previous line of work then I would expect that to continue in your next one. That said, I think my way of thinking is probably in the minority in terms of not checking social media for candidates and judging them by that.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 25, 2012 -> 08:54 AM) For some reason they only have 3-4 shows. I don't get Showtime's business practice with their content. They also don't have an app to be able to watch all of their stuff on OnDemand like HBO. It'd be nice to watch Shameless from the beginning, but no one has the digital/streaming anywhere. www.1channel.ch Using that site cuz I'm at work, but 1channel is your friend. If you can deal with a couple pop ups (just click out of them when they pop up, you get used to when they do so you're ready for them) then it's perfect. Just use any putlocker or sockshare link for each episode, those are the best ones.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 12:09 PM) I could not disagree more - the entire Fringe library being on there is awesome, they have a ton of selection. Also, how difficult is it to select the "Amazon Prime" section to see which movies/shows qualify as free under Amazon Prime? There's tons. I'd say your review mostly tells us user error. They advertise more for their paid videos (shocker!1!), but yea, just click on Prime Instant Videos and voila!, all the free ones are there!

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 02:19 PM) It's bigger than the regular Kindle Fire, right? My mom has a Kindle Fire, my dad has a Nexus 7, but they both use the iPad 2 that they won in some raffle more because of the bigger screen. She's temped to buy a Kindle Fire HD, but she's got too many damn tablets, they don't need a 4th between the two of them. The one I got is the same size I believe, but they have a larger version. I was tempted by the Nexus, but decided to go with Amazon's. And yea, either sell some of those tablets to buy another or don't buy more, otherwise it's a waste.

So I bought a Kindle FireHD, pretty impressed by it. It's a nice little toy to have especially because I like to listen to music/watch a show in bed before I actually fall asleep so it's better than my laptop/phone to do that, and the screen is really gorgeous (not to mention the built in speakers blow away an other built ins I've heard). Not too shabby for $200.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 10:19 AM) But that's crap. It doesn't need to be that way. They can split, or just not talk to each other. Or guess what, they can f***ing deal with it instead of talking about over and over and over again without actually talking about anything. It's boring as sin and it's a huge problem with the show. I'm resigned to the fact that it's going to be a part of the show, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. At this point Lori isn't driving him to do anything. The group has taken her place. The fact is, the show, nor the graphic novel, is perfect. It's never going to please everyone, but I sure am f***ing pumped with how they have gone about this season so far, and with Woodbury coming into the picture it's going to get really intense and most everyone is going to love the story. Even in the graphic novel the characters can get annoying, and that's because they try to make them human and add emotions that don't fit in a zombie world (and who knows how a group of survivors would act in a zombie world, it's just their portrayal).